Temporary Greenwich Fire HQs Construction Moving Along

The warm winter season means that construction of the temporary Greenwich Fire headquarters is "moving along well" and is expected to be completed by June 1.

According to Alan Monelli, the town's superintendent of building construction and maintenance, said that "We're pretty much on schedule to be done by June 1, with an outfitting, debugging period for phones, bedding arrangments, we should be ready July 1."

Monelli explained, "The weather's been extremely helpful when the construction is complete, Engine Company 1 that's currently assigned to Central Station will be relocated to the new temporary quarters."

Central Station's Ladder Company 10 most likely will be moved into the Cos Cob station, Monelli said.

The recent warm spell has meant workers from Cos Cob-based Wernert Construction have been able to erect and top off the steel frame of the garage building. This week crews have been working on the concrete footings that will be the base for the single-story dorm building, Monelli said.

Originally, the $1.225 million temporary headquarters project was to include a pre-engineered, modular-style building. "But the bids came back and it was cheaper to do conventional construction," Monelli said. Conventional construction also allows

When completed, the mini-complex—located across from the Boys & Girls Club—will house the four-member engine crew and a deputy chief.

Once that construction is done, the town is expecting to proceed with the design of a new fire headquarters to replace the 1930s era station at the corner of Havemeyer and Mason Street. The aging building has crumbling ceilings and walls from water that seeps through the limestone facade. There have been sewage backups and other health and safety issues with the building the town wants to raze and replace.

While for the project that will cost about $20.5 million, building preservationists want the town to retrofit and upgrade the current building—a project that town officials estimate would cost about $29 million. to intercede and declare the building a historic site—a designation that would trigger a series of local and state reviews before the building could be razed.

Last year, town officials approved the elimination of nearly 50 commuter parking spaces in the Horseneck Lane lot for use as a temporary fire headquarters.

According to Monelli, the new fire headquarters should be completed by January 2016—about five years later than expected when the plan was proposed more than a decade ago. Once complete, the dormitory structure would be razed and the truck garage would be relocated to the town's Parks and Recreation Department's maintenance building in Bruce Park, on Indian Field Road, Monelli said.